The Secret To A Japanese Scarf Joint: A Great Template

August 12, 2017

In case you were getting tired of Glulams and LVLs

It is safe to say that most of us will not build a beam like the one in this video. It is also safe to say that most of us will need to make a template sometime soon. So, this video treat is a slick little way to get some template advice: 1/8 inch mahogany door skin.

Why door skin makes great templates:

It's cheap

It's rigid

You can cut it with a knife

You can fine-tune it with a block plane

The process for cutting the template for this joint:

Rip the template stock to the same width as the beam.

Snap a center line along the template.

Lay out the joint and cut it from the single template to yield two mating template pieces.